Subj : The universe            4
To   : Jim Munden
From : Frank Masingill
Date : Tue Jan 02 2001 07:56 am

 -> But it had no cause.  It began, simpliciter.

 JM> This is certainly not an original thought, but what if the
 JM> "Big Bang" and the current expansion are but phases in an
 JM> ongoing oscillation of energy converting to matter, and vice
 JM> versa?  That is, an immense ball of pure energy explodes and
 JM> condenses ultimately into cold, heavy matter.  Gravity
 JM> eventually draws the matter back into a singularity, gradually
 JM> converting it into energy through friction and tidal forces
 JM> until it is once again the immense ball of pure energy, which
 JM> explodes and starts the cycle anew.  Whew!

 JM> I imagine the infinite void has always existed. The
 JM> unanswerable question, though, is "What was the origin, matter
 JM> or energy, and what initiated the explosion?". In the end, it
 JM> seems we're stuck going 'round and 'round with the
 JM> chicken-or-the-egg paradox, and all of our various theologies
 JM> and philosophies over the ages are merely attempts to answer
 JM> the paradox.

        As far as humble man is concerned he has had myth and then
philosophy to aid him in living with the mystery in which he
participates with HIS existence in a realm he experiences as
non-existent and timeless.  He still has that and is not OBLIGED to
fall into immanentization in which he imagines a causa sui or at
least a cause that is worthless unless he can measure it with HIS
tools. 

Frank

--- PPoint 2.07
 * Origin: Maybe in 5000 years (1:396/45.12)

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